I believe I saw a man a few hours before he died...

[FireArm]

On monday I was driving home from work. I drive the hellway called I205 north from I5 to the 213 exit. As I was exiting i205 at the top of the off ramp to 213, I noticed three men. they were in an area not easy to get to and on foot, as I didnt see a parked vehicle nearby in any direction. Two of them sat on the guard rail and one man stood behind one of the guys sitting. None of them were paying any attention to the off ramp traffic and all looked upset and/or really out of it (high). Then on Tuesday a body(news reports say he died from violent homicide) was found in the same location. I was in the back-up of traffic on Tuesday, it took me 2.5hrs to get home because the 213 off ramp was closed for the investigation.
Do I cloud the state police investigation with the limited info I can provide?
Was one of them even the guys I saw, I would know all three if I saw them again. But Im torn on whether I should come forward and get involved. I didnt see anything more then three older gentlemen that looked disheveled, which is fairly common for people standing on the side of the highways nowadays.
But I value peoples opinions here on the forums so if a few say I should call the State Police helpline I will and go from there. I have to be up at 4am and its 11pm now, so clearly this is keeping me up just knowing I saw a man in his last few hours of life, the situation just didnt seem right where they were and how the two guys were almost cornering the man.
let me know your thoughts. I will update info if I receive any from OSP or if they end up wanting to speak to me in person.

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[Kruel J]

You're call man.

 

[Lilhigbee]

You're call man.

I agree with this, but obviously it is important to you, so my advice would be if you have information that may be useful and it's bothering you, call it in. If you can identify the people that could be a big deal. Don't worry about the info not being useful, the investigator's job is to sort the wheat from the chaff, and they get a LOT of chaff.

 

[DirectDrive]

Sometimes we have information that doesn't seem valuable to us, but that information just might be important to someone else.
Also, time is of the essence in regards to remembering something in detail.

 

[OldBroad44]

On monday I was driving home from work. I drive the hellway called I205 north from I5 to the 213 exit. As I was exiting i205 at the top of the off ramp to 213, I noticed three men. they were in an area not easy to get to and on foot, as I didnt see a parked vehicle nearby in any direction. Two of them sat on the guard rail and one man stood behind one of the guys sitting. None of them were paying any attention to the off ramp traffic and all looked upset and/or really out of it (high). Then on Tuesday a body(news reports say he died from violent homicide) was found in the same location. I was in the back-up of traffic on Tuesday, it took me 2.5hrs to get home because the 213 off ramp was closed for the investigation.
Do I cloud the state police investigation with the limited info I can provide?
Was one of them even the guys I saw, I would know all three if I saw them again. But Im torn on whether I should come forward and get involved. I didnt see anything more then three older gentlemen that looked disheveled, which is fairly common for people standing on the side of the highways nowadays.
But I value peoples opinions here on the forums so if a few say I should call the State Police helpline I will and go from there. I have to be up at 4am and its 11pm now, so clearly this is keeping me up just knowing I saw a man in his last few hours of life, the situation just didnt seem right where they were and how the two guys were almost cornering the man.
let me know your thoughts. I will update info if I receive any from OSP or if they end up wanting to speak to me in person.

If it were me, I would report it. No doubt at all about it. You know a whole lot. Assuming that the body was found in a location that corresponds to what you saw, you not only saw but can describe and identify the last two people to see the victim alive. You might possibly be the only one who knows there were two, let alone got an impression of their interaction. If no one else comes forward, that may all LE has. If others come forward they may have seen or noticed different things.

 

[partsed]

 

[308]

Hi-Res dash cams are cheap, and in this case could possibly have provided some good intel.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Any information is part of the puzzle...what you saw and your impressions of what was going on and the time you saw it , may be a part of a bigger piece of the puzzle , so to speak.

I'd report what I saw , the time I saw it and state my impressions of what I saw.
It doesn't do any harm to report it .....
Andy

 

[FireArm]

I will be calling on my 9am break.

 

[Stomper]

Any information is part of the puzzle...what you saw and your impressions of what was going on and the time you saw it , may be a part of a bigger piece of the puzzle , so to speak.

I'd report what I saw , the time I saw it and state my impressions of what I saw.
It doesn't do any harm to report it .....
Andy

Yeah, you'd be AMASED at what a "mosaic process" crime scenes are... mix it it with "gut feelings", and a detectives "intuition". Normal people just don't sit by an off ramp to pass the time.... I would call it in.

 

[Mikej]

Strange what a persons brain will retain. Many years ago we were woken buy a gun shot in the street in front of our rental house around three in the morning. I got up and peered out the bottom of the window. There was a guy walking on the other side of the street, and then he shot, what I figure to be a shotgun, into the ground in just front of him. We got right on the phone. Guy strolled on his way. The police came to our home early, just after daylight, to talk and show pictures. Somehow, after looking at the six or so photos, my brain was drawn to one photo and it turned out to be the guy. He was a neighbor from the next street over. I'd never met him before. The police already had the guy apparently and were just looking for corroboration I 'spose. But yeah, call the police seeing as that picture is vivid in your mind.

 

[FireArm]

I will also be purchasing a Hi-res dash cam now, I had looked into them but now its a must. the footage could have caught a murder or murders and not having it now bothers me. it would also give an exact time not my recollection of the time.

 

[308]

I will also be purchasing a Hi-res dash cam now, I had looked into them but now its a must. the footage could have caught a murder or murders and not having it now bothers me. it would also give an exact time not my recollection of the time.

These are elegant little cameras and very intuitive. Its what I use.
Car Dash Cam

 

[Kristina]

While you may feel bad about giving potentially useless info to the police, I can assure you that if you don't make that call it will haunt you for a very long time.

 

[OldBroad44]

I will be calling on my 9am break.

Good man!

 

[CoastRange57]

One small piece of information can break open a criminal investigation. Based upon what you say, you have some very valuable information that needs to be passed on to LEOs.

I made a simple phone call one night this week and I can tell you it broke open a felony investigation in Central Oregon. Helping a criminal investigation and putting bad guys in jail is the honorable thing to do.

 

[armabill]

Yes, do call. This might establish a "time line" for the police.

 

[partsed]

I will also be purchasing a Hi-res dash cam now, I had looked into them but now its a must. the footage could have caught a murder or murders and not having it now bothers me. it would also give an exact time not my recollection of the time.

Don't beat yourself up over not having a camera in your vehicle. One can never be prepared for everything...

 

[Fast Eddie]

Glad you decided to call it in. FWIW, I think you have a moral obligation to call it in, I think you knew that.

You might be giving some folks the gift of closure and justice.

If there's even a shot at getting these criminals off the street, and you helped get it done, you are a hero to the community.

I applaud your transparency, most people aren't brave enough to wrestle with their conscience on a public forum.

 

[FireArm]

I called left my info and the info about what I saw with the OSP, if a detective needs to they will reach out. I also looked online for his photo and one of the guys sitting on the guard rail was the guy i saw. Too bad looks like he had two little daughters. my prayers go out to the family.